There Wasn't a Driver
by Triscribe
Summary: TF Prime: Three views to a set of circumstances involving a truck without a driver, a battle, and the clean-up afterwards.


_A/N: Here I go again, writing fan fiction for another class assignment... Hope my teacher doesn't mind TOO much... Here's to hoping that you folks enjoy it, though!_

 _-Triscribe_

There wasn't a driver.

Perhaps that wasn't the most important thing about the encounter, but it was the one that had caught Chuck's attention, the one that had pulled him into the mess to begin with.

The red and blue eighteen-wheeler hadn't had a driver in the front seat, yet had pulled out from the back of the power station regardless, and headed off down a dirt road into the desert. And Chuck, idiot that he was, followed. He'd hardly been inconspicuous in his beat up old station wagon, but had hung back enough to avoid arousing suspicion as they drove on into the canyons that dotted the area. At least, that's what he'd thought at the time, before turning a corner and finding the massive truck coming straight towards him.

What happened after that - the massive, grey and purple jet swooping down, shooting some weird purple energy blasts, the truck turning and braking and _transforming_ \- had been too outlandish to really register in Chuck's mind. When he was awoken by a concerned paramedic, inexplicably lying on the ground outside the local hospital, he was only able to say one thing to try and understand what had happened.

There wasn't a driver.

-T-

It had to have been part of some kind of secret war between theirs and a foreign government - that was the best explanation that Bobby could come up with, watching the two massive robots fighting one another in the canyon below him.

Nestled between a couple of big boulders, the hiker had watched with fascination as the big red and blue eighteen wheeler turned into a humanoid, mechanical being, mimicked a few moments later by the aircraft that had been shooting at it. The pair of behemoths began to do battle, using cannons and swords or just their fists, which Bobby wholeheartedly approved of. He was the kind of man who appreciated a good bar fight for the sheer thrill of the physical fight, whether he actively participated in it or not, and this was approaching the same level of excitement.

It was pity about the driver of the station wagon that had accidentally brought himself into the battleground, attracting the grey robot's attention and earning a cannon blast of his own, delivered almost casually. The blue and red opponent, upon seeing the old car swerve from the shot and crash straight into a canyon wall, went into a rage and attacked his opponent with renewed vigour.

Bobby, safely hidden above them, was content to continue watching.

-T-

"Ratchet, open an emergency groundbridge to my coordinates - and please send Nurse Darby through, there is an injured human present."

 _*Understood, Optimus.*_ Moments later, the familiar green portal burst into life, with a small figure hurrying out of it towards him, medical bag in hand.

"What's the problem?" June Darby asked as she neared the massive red and blue Autobot.

"There was a civilian who came to close to our battle. Megatron shot at him, which the driver was able to avoid, but he became injured upon crashing his vehicle." Optimus led her to the damaged station wagon, where a middle-aged man was slumped over the steering wheel, bleeding from a narrow gash across his forehead. She had the Autobot leader pull the crumbled door off for her, and then June set about cleaning and bandaging what cuts she could see.

"He'll need to be taken to the hospital, just in case. It's very likely he's sustained a concussion," June briefly glanced at the alien robot. "Which might actually be a good thing, if he thinks of you as a hallucination and nothing more."

"Indeed." Optimus rumbled, continuing to ignore the scorch marks and other damages he'd received in the fight. "I will drive the two of you back to town, then." That said, he transformed back into vehicle mode, using his seatbelt straps to help June pull the injured man into the cab. The three of them set off, deciding en route to simply leave the man where he would be found quickly, before taking a groundbridge portal back to base.


End file.
